31 Jan 2017

Nigerian national and a Cambodian were arraigned before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday, January 27, for their involvement in a scheme to steal $300 from a Cambodian woman through a fake promotional contest.

37-year-old Uchechukwu Vincent and 27-year-old Sarim Kunthea had been charged with fraud after being sued by Keo Sotheary, 28, and arrested on September 8, 2016.

“They were arrested by the police while coming to get $300 from the victim at a Wing transfer shop in Chom Chao commune," Judge Ros Piseth said, adding that police had seized the money during the arrest.

According to court documents, the pair called the woman and told her she won first prize in a promotional contest in September 2016. But Ms. Sotheary was told to send them $300 through Wing for “information and preparation for receiving the prize.”

Ms. Sotheary became suspicious when she received several follow-up calls asking her to send the money.

She filed a complaint with police, who subsequently set up a sting operation to arrest Mr. Vincent and Ms. Kunthea at a local Wing shop.

The two alleged scam artists, who had been living in an apartment in Sansom Kosal 5 village in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district, denied the charges and said they had never called or spoken to the victim.

They claimed a Nigerian friend named Ichinobi told them to pick up the $300 from the Wing shop before they were arrested.

"I did not know the victim. I have never called her or contacted her. I did not do anything as the court has accused and I would like them to release me," Mr. Vincent said.

A Cambodia court has sentenced a 22-year-old Thai woman to life imprisonment for trafficking 2.5 kilogrammes of cocaine from the United Arab Emirates.

Amphawan Kaewkanlaya claimed she was tricked into carrying the drugs by her Nigerian boyfriend's older brother. She was also fined 60 million riel (about 535,000 baht).

Police found packages of cocaine, totaling 2.5kg, hidden in boxes of Lindt chocolates in her luggage.

"The court has decided to give her a life sentence and a fine of 60 million riel to be put in the national budget," Phnom Penh Municipal Court presiding judge Heng Kessaror said in passing judgement on Thursday, January 5th.

"The court orders the confiscation of the drugs seized and other drug-related material to be destroyed," he added.

Amphawan said she would appeal the judgement and maintained she was innocent. During her trial last month she said she was unaware the package she accepted from her boyfriend’s brother, the boxes of Swiss chocolates, during her visit to the UAE contained drugs.

"It is so unjust for me. I will consider my appeal of the judgment to the Appeal Court,"she said.During her trial last month, Amphawan said she traveled from Thailand to Dubai in March to visit her Nigerian boyfriend, Uche, and his family there.Her boyfriend had paid for her airline tickets, visa, food and accommodation, she said. Before returning home last month, she was given the boxes of Lindt chocolates by Uche’s older brother, whose name she could not recall. He had asked her to take the chocolates to a friend of his in Cambodia.

She said she became aware the hidden drugs only when she was detained at Phnom Penh International Airport and police inspected the boxes.

Police seized 2,594 grammes of cocaine and charged her with transporting an illicit drug, possession and trafficking.

Gallant police special team operatives have successfully arrested two more kidnappers with the sum of N3million they collected as ransom.

The suspects, including a 20-year-old nurse, Felicia Weinoh, who specialized in treating victims and members of the kidnap gang who abducted eight students and staff at the Turkish Int'l College, NTIC in Isheri area of Ogun State, have been arrested.Godspower Olobele, who is said to be the gang’s informant stationed at Majidun area of Ikorodu, Lagos was arrested during the weekend with the sum of N200,000, said to be his share of the ransom collected for the release of the NTIC schoolgirls and staff.

The suspects were arrested few days after an undisclosed amount was paid as ransom for the girls and staff to the gang of kidnappers who stormed the school and abducted the victims at night.

A ransom of N1.2 billion was initially demanded by the kidnappers, said to have been terrorizing Lagos and Ogun states. They have been mentioned in several high-profile bank robberies and kidnappings within the two states in recent times.

Felicia Weinoh, said her boyfriend, who she identified as Iyenaboh Bandon, a.k.a. American, lured her into the gang. She wasn’t being paid because her boyfriend was always giving her money.

“American is my boyfriend and we have been dating for a long time and he knows that I am a nurse and I am still undergoing training. I used to go into the creeks to treat him and his friends whenever they were sick and last week they called and told me that a woman in their custody was sick and I told them that I was busy but when I went the police arrested me at Majidun waterside,” she revealed.

According to Vanguard, the other suspect, Olobele, disclosed that he was given the sum of N200,000 as his own share after the NTIC kidnapping, adding that he also got N100,000 when three schoolgirls were abducted at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu, Lagos, in March 2016.

“It was American who introduced me to the gang. He met me at Majidun where I used to sell firewood and local gin close to the waterside when he came to drink and when he knew I am an Ijaw man, he asked of my sales and I told him I make about N2,000 daily and he told me that it was small.

"He then asked me to join him in his business and my job will be simple and easy. Whenever they have victims in their camp I normally supply the food and whenever they want people to enter into their camp they will pass instructions to me. After every business I used to get between N100,000 and N200, 000.

"I was given N200,000 after the last job but the police found another N100,000 on me which he gave me for the police towards his wife’s bail."

Earlier, four suspects, including a militant leader, Philip Joel, also known as General Kakadu, were arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, a tough police officer.

US President, Donald Trump, yesterday fired the acting Attorney General Sally Yates, for ordering the Justice Department not to defend Trump's executive order on the refugee ban. She took to twitter this afternoon to react to her dismissal...

Former Arsenal, Manchester and Tottenham striker, Emmanuel Adebayor has signed 18 months deal with Turkish Super Lig high flyers, Istanbul Basakehir. The deal had some hiccups after the club revealed they couldn't match his £58,000-a-week wage demands.

Emmanuel Adebayor had been without a club for the past six months after he was released by Crystal Palace.

Adebayor shared the news on his Instagram page and wrote;

"SEA, God has perfect timing; never early, never late. I am pleased to announce that I have reached an agreement with Istanbul Başakşehir FK. New league, new club, new challenge... but we all speak the same language which is football. Very excited to meet my teammates, the staff and the fans here. Lets get to work right away ! "

The presidency has reacted to the February 5th proposed Nationwide protest which singer, 2face Idibia and other celebrities have come out to support.

Speaking in an interview with Lagos Talk 91.3fm, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said those who are calling for the protest are people who supported the last government and are still pained that they lost the last election.

"This is a country of about 180 million people. It is impossible for 180 million people to think the same way. Yoruba has a saying that is you all sleep and put your head in the same direction, then you are all foolish because you would be breathing in one another's mouth and lungs. Dont forget the last election and how it went. Somebody scored 12.5 million votes, another scored about 15 million votes. There are some people who are still in that election mode. They have not gotten out of it and till today, they are still living and "rheumatisizing" about the past. What they don't know is that that past is gone and gone forever. Majority of those calling for the protest are still in election mode. Majority of them are people that have resolved not to see anything good in this administration simply because the man they wanted lost at the polls"he said

A five-year-old boy was detained at Washington DC's Dulles airport on Saturday after President Trump signed the executive order banning citizens of some countries. The boy was handcuffed and held for five hours, an act which Donald Trump's Press secretary, Sean Spencer, has defended.

Spencer said: “To assume that just because of someone’s age and gender that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong."

Senator Van Hollen called the treatment of the boy "outrageous" and revealed that he had been held for too long, despite the authorities being notified in advance of his arrival. After his release, his mother was seen kissing him as she was reunited with her son.

The boy is a US citizen, resident in Maryland but is believed to have been born in Iran, a factor that most likely exposed him to the discrimination he suffered.

A black woman of Nigerian decent has become the first black woman to have two white children. The probability of this happening once has been calculated to be less than one in a million.

Catherine Howarth, a Financial analyst who is married to Richard Howarth believed to have a recessive gene which resulted to the birth of her son, Jonah who was completely white and had blue eyes.

She was completely stunned when she gave birth to her second child and discovered she was also completely white.

According to her, when she gave birth to her first child, the genetic specialist said it was almost impossible for her as an African to have blue eyed child "When Jonah was born, a genetic specialist said he was a one-in-a-million baby. He said it was extraordinary with my African background that I'd had a child with blue eyes and pale skin. He calculated the possibility of it happening again was less than one in a million. So when Sophia was born with white skin and blue eyes I was more than taken back with shock. It seems the odds of it happening twice are millions-to-one. No-one has heard of a black mum having two white babies one after the other."

Catherine who is a Nigerian says she has no knowledge of white genes in her family. "My parents were from Nigeria and as far back as anyone can recall my family have all been black. The only explanation seems to be there must have been a white gene in my family that has remained dormant for years until now. And now it seems to be very dominant.' Despite the initial shock, the couple are delighted with their miracle children."

Fans of South African gospel star Lundi Tymara have received shocking news of the passing of the 38 year old singer who died after an illness. His manager announced the sad news saying: “Lundi put up a gallant fight against his illness, but God’s will prevailed.

We ask that his fans,supporters and followers join us in celebrating his life”.

Lundi, who was dubbed as the “bad boy” of the gospel industry spoke openly about his struggles with drugs and alcohol.

A French-Canadian university student known for far-right nationalist views was charged with six counts of murder over the shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque on Sunday.

The 27-year-old suspect identified as Alexandre Bissonnette made a brief court appearance and did not enter a plea on the attack which left six people dead and 19 others wounded during evening prayers.

Bissonnette, who has espoused support for the French far-right party of Marine Le Pen and had liked U.S. President Donald Trump on his Facebook page, was known to those who monitor extremist groups in Quebec, said François Deschamps, an official with a refugee advocacy group.

"It’s with pain and anger that we learn the identity of terrorist Alexandre Bissonnette, unfortunately known to many activists in Quebec for taking nationalist, pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social media," Deschamps wrote on the Facebook page of the group, Bienvenues aux Refugiés, or Welcome to Refugees.

An anthropology and political science major at Laval University in Quebec City, Bissonnette had also expressed support on his Facebook profile for “Génération Nationale,” a group whose manifesto includes the rejection of “multiculturalism."

Among the six men killed were a butcher, a university professor, a pharmacist and an accountant, according to police and Canadian media. Police declined to discuss possible motives for the shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.

A man of Moroccan descent who had also been arrested was now considered a witness, although his nationality was not immediately known, the Canadian source said.

Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau, who has made a point of welcoming refugees and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, told parliament in Ottawa: "Make no mistake, this was a terrorist attack."

Trudeau, who visited the Mosque on Monday, added a personal message to Canada's 1 million Muslims: "Know that we value you. You enrich our shared country in immeasurable ways. It is your home. Last night's horrible crime against the Muslim community was an act of terror committed against Canada and against all Canadians. We will grieve with you. We will defend you. We will love you. And we will stand with you."

In addition to the six killed, five people were critically injured and 12 were treated for minor injuries, a spokeswoman for the Quebec City University Hospital said.

Federal Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters in Ottawa there was no change to "the national terrorism threat level" from medium because "there is no information known to the government of Canada that would lead to a change at this time." Over the weekend, Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees, his response to an executive order by Trump on Friday to halt the U.S. refugee programme and to temporarily bar citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Trump's action, which the president said was "not about religion - this is about terror and keeping our country safe," was widely condemned in the United States and abroad as targeting Muslims. A father of four, the owner of a halal butcher near the mosque, was among those killed, said Pamela Sakinah El-hayet, a friend of one of the people at the mosque. The mosque concierge was killed, as was Ahmed Youness, a 21-year-old student, El-hayet told Reuters. One of El-hayet’s friends, Youness’ roommate, was in the mosque at the time of the shooting. He was unharmed, she said, but in total shock. Ali Assafiri, a student at Université Laval, said he had been running late for the evening prayers at the mosque, near the university in the Quebec City area. When he arrived, the mosque had been transformed by police into a crime scene. "Everyone was in shock," Assafiri said by phone. "It was chaos." Additional reporting by REUTERS

Drama played out as a married lady who has been secretly having an affair with another woman's husband was caught and disgraced.

The lady identified as Kugara was beaten up by her lover's wife, Agnes in public. The illicit affair with Agnes hubby, Shelton, reportedly came to light after the latter’s mobile phone was taken by his wife Agnes following a misunderstanding over love messages.

According to H-metro, Agnes communicated with Kugara on her husband’s mobile phone and the latter complied by visiting a hotel in their area in Zimbabwe, where she was pounced on and given a thorough beating.

Agnes said she got really angry after she discovered through their exchanged messages that the lady had slept with her husband on their matrimonial bed when she traveled.

“I discovered that she was seeing my husband behind my back at my house and her message that they were to meet led me to trap her. We just disciplined and warned her not to cheat on her husband and as well wreck other women’s marriages," Agnes said.

The Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) intercepted 661 pieces of pump-action rifles from China, concealed with steel doors and other merchandise goods, which came in through Lagos port.

Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Alli, made the disclosure while briefing newsmen on Monday in Lagos. See more photos...

Col. Alli said that the Federal Operations Unit, while on patrol, intercepted a Mark truck with registration number BUG 265 XG conveying a 40ft container with the number; PONU/825914/3 along Mile 2 Apapa Road, Lagos.

The comptroller-general said the truck was immediately taken to F.O.U. premises for physical examination and 49 boxes containing 661 pieces of pump action rifles concealed with steel doors were revealed.

A new craze is taking Japan by storm and sees adults wrapped up like babies and swayed from side-to-side.

The bizarre-looking therapy called Otonamaki is becoming popular especially with new mums.At a recent session in Tokyo organised by a non-profit organisation dedicated to post-natal women, five tried out the new trend.

Each took turns to tie each other in a large cloth from head to toe and in a cross-legged position, with the guidance from the session's organiser Yayoi Katayama.They also swayed lightly from side-to-side after being laid gently on their backs in the hope of helping loosening the muscles and bones.

Some were given the option to use a colored cloth to help simulate different environments as they lay completely covered in the white cloths.

After emerging one woman said: "It felt warm and there was this feeling with my body. I have never experienced this before so its quite hard to describe properly."

Ms Katayama said the practice was first devised by a famous midwife called Nobuko Watanabe from Kyoto city, and was especially devised for women suffering from post-natal stiffness in their shoulders or hips.

She said: "We call baby swaddling in Japan 'doll wrap'.

"We wrap them in cloths and they sleep very well like that. I believe this came about when someone thought about doing this with adults."

"When we tried it, it was very relaxing.

"We understood why babies sleep well like this. And when adults tried it, it helped loosen them up.

We think it would be good to add this before exercises and also after birth - many new mothers have hip aches and shoulder aches - so we wrap mothers for this."

However some healthcare professionals are not convinced the therapy has any lasting medical benefits.

The US acting attorney general has told the justice department not to defend President Donald Trump's immigration order.

Sally Yates, who was appointed by Mr Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, said she was not "convinced that the executive order is lawful".

"The Department of Justice will not present arguments in defence of the executive order," she said.Ms Yates is due to be replaced by Mr Trump's nominee, Jeff Sessions.In a letter to employees published by US media, she noted that the order had been challenged in court in a number of jurisdictions.

"My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is," she wrote.

"I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution's solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right." shut by security operatives

Exactly one year ago, Danish aid worker Anja Ringgren Loven was photographed giving water to a severely emaciated child.

The then 2-year-old boy was rescued in Akwa Ibom State after he was branded a witch by his family and left to starve to death.

He had been wandering the streets for eight months when Anja got a phone call and immediately led a rescue team to bring him home. The boy later named Hope, had to be have a blood transfusion and treated for worms.

Today, the founder of the African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation (ACAEDF) disclosed that Hope has started school. Read her post below and check out adorable photo of Hope in his school uniform.

"On the 30 of January 2016 I went on a rescue mission with David Emmanuel Umem, Nsidibe Orok and our Nigerian team. A rescue mission that went viral, and today it's exactly 1 year ago the world came to know a young little boy called Hope. This week Hope will start school."

This video is circulating online which shows an Illinois father beating up a young man who he claimed asked his 9 year old daughter to ‘Twerk for him’. After beating the young man, the infuriated father made him remove his clothes and “twerk” on video.

The dad is getting for the beat down, as he should. Only God knows what else the man would have asked the 9 year old to do if he hadn't been caught. See the video after the cut...

Former US President Barack Obama released a statement today Monday Jan. 30th supporting the protests going on around the country against Donald Trump's ban on travelers and refugees entering the US from 7 Muslim-majority countries.

The statement, issued by Obama’s spokesman, Kevin Lewis, is the first time that the former US president will weigh in on Trump’s presidency. Read the statement after the cut..

"President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizens and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy — not just during an election but every day.

Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake. With regard to comparisons to President Obama’s foreign policy decisions, as we’ve heard before, the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith."